TSX Ends Weak For 2nd Straight Day

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market ended notably lower on Friday, weighed down by losses in technology, materials and energy shares.

Weak commodity prices and uncertainty about the pace of global economic rebound due to continued spikes in coronavirus cases in Asia.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down by 147.59 points or 0.77% at 19,108.33, nearly 25 points off the day's low of 19,084.96.

Information technology stocks Alithya Group (ALYA.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Absolute Software Corp (ABST.TO), Descartes Systems (DSG.TO) and BlackBerry (BB.TO) lost 2 to 4.5%.

Dye & Durham (DND.TO), Quarterhill (QTRH.TO) and Celestica Inc (CLS.TO) gained 1.4 to 1.7%.

Among materials shares, Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO) tumbled more than 8%. First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO), Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO), Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO), Lundin Mining Corp (LUN.TO), First Majestic Silver Corp (FR.TO), MAG Silver Corp (MAG.TO) and Methanex Corp (MX.TO) shed 2 to 4%.

MEG Energy (MEG.TO), Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO), Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO), Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO), Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), ARC Resources (ARX.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO) and Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) ended lower by 1 to 4%.

Healthcare stock Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (AUP.TO) soared more than 10%. Trillium Therapeutics (TRIL.TO) gained nearly 5% and Chartwell Retirement Residences (CSH.UN.TO) climbed 1.8%. Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO), Imperial Oil (IMO.TO) and CCL Industries (CCL.A.TO) were among the other notable gainers in the session.

On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed the Canadian economy expanded 0.4% month-over-month in February, after a 0.7% increase in January.

Another data from Statistics Canada said the industrial product index in Canada eased to 1.6% month over month in March, from an upwardly revised 2.8% gain in the previous month.